Pooja walked together with Leia to a distant part of the palace until they came into another large room with training equipment. Pooja stepped into the large room first to greet a thin man and later stepped aside to introduce him,
"This is Master Tahn,"
Leia met the man with a soft bow as Pooja continued to speak,
"Master Tahn is the queen's personal trainer; he is instructed to assist you in your preparation. Master Tahn has worked alongside many Jedi of the Old Republic so he is quite the expert in the their battle form."
The man smiled reassuringly,
"I am at your service, Princess."
Leia returned the kind smile,
"Thank you. I will need all the help I can obtain."
Pooja bowed softly,
"So then I should leave you to begin but before that I must tell you these are the videos we were able to salvage, they've been enhanced to detail the image."
Leia took the holonet reader and skimmed through the large library,
"The library is quite extensive, thank you. It's so much more than I hoped."
"There is no problem, anything we can do to help, we will do without a seconds doubt. The library can be separated by date, Jedi name and battle."
Before leaving through the wide doors Pooja turned once more,
"Be fairly warned Princess, Master Tahn will not go easy on you."
••••
The pain from the attack subsided and Leia struggled to get up, but did it non the less.
Combate with sword was unlike anything she'd done before and she thanked her father for those years of arms combat he'd urged her to train in.
The man before her kept serious but friendly,
"Take everything with ease, I am here to help. Keep your emotions in check."
Leia blushed realizing she had been glaring at her opponent. The sweat slid her forehead and she was forced to use her close to white robe to wipe her forehead.
"A force signature is what marks the difference of every being in the universe. If you can close your eyes and feel my small force signature, as powerless as I may be, you can find me."
Worry began to set inside Leia as she tried to calm her anger,
"Does that mean Vader could sense me?"
The older man nodded,
"If he were to focus enough, and his power were that great— he could. He could sense what you feel, what your thinking. But you can control the amount of power you emanate by controlling your emotions. "
Leia nodded as they both circled through the center of the training room,
"How could I do the same? How could I block him?"
"You must be centered on what you want. If you wish to block him; focus on that mental wall, if you wish to see inside his mind— focus on breaking down and breaking through his wall."
"To search for an emotional weakness? A physical one? If I don't know what it is..."
"People who are unsure of themselves have their weaknesses at the surface, on plain sight. Someone like Vader... He'd hide them deepest in his mind. The further you go into the mind, the harder the walls are to penetrate, but not impossible."
Leia nodded in understanding and her master moved forward signaling the battle had resumed.
Leia aimed for his lower abdomen but he quickly covered the blow and twisted his sword against hers, but Leia had seen this too many times to fall again and so she circled her sword around his too, taking advantage but retrieving back. Tahn moved forward
and closed in with a leap to attack but Leia fiercely striked back twice, causing the sword to fall to the ground and leaving Tahn exposed to any attack.
Leia stood with her sword at his neck until Master Tahn surrendered,
"Training session has ended."
Leia snapped from a trance and quickly bowed in gratitude,
"Thank you for your time, Master Tahn."
The man nodded a bit more tense than before and Leia could feel... fear?
"M-Master..."
"There has been great improvement in your stance and battle technique, I feel that the holovideos of the Jedi have helped a lot. You've even made personal modificactions to the Jedi garment to suit your comfort."
The man seemed to forget the past few minuets and smiled,
"You thrive in practicality, the old Jedi trained for years and each had their very own specific fighting technique. Patience is the greatest virtue of the Jedi, so you have patience too, there's been great growth in you in the past week."
Leia walked beside Tahn as they exited the training room into the broad palace halls.
••••
Leia released the knots in her hair from the hairstyle her personal droid had given her and stripped herself of the sweaty Jedi garment that was sticking to her body before relaxing in a midnight bath, that no doubt— did her some good. Leia some good.
Leia woke up inside the bath to realize her fingers had become shriveled and she achingly got up remove the soap. She changed into her sleeping garment and rubbed the towel against ethnic stil wet hair.
Leia watched the stars from her balcony in awe. She thought sadly about how long it'd been since she'd felt this sort of peace. She shook her head softly as all of Naboo seemed to rest except her.
Her head rested in her hands as she whispered,
"Luke... Help me."
There was a silence that nature provided and then Leia heard her brother's voice join her,
Leia... What is it?
Leia closed her eyes and could only hold back the urge to cry,
"Luke!"
I... I feel lost. Look, look at all this.
She rose her head steadily now looking out to the dark scenery,
"This calm and peaceful life... Is it really all a lie? An illusion?"
Leia...
Have we been living the illusion? Have we been lied to and made to think that everything has always been an ongoing war?
Luke's voice continued to soften,
You've been away too long, General.
Leia smiled painfully,
"Maybe so."
Ease flew through Luke and Leia's bond as silence enveloped them both.
You've been having nightmares...
Leia turned away back into the darkness of her own embrace,
"They're just dreams."
But they're troubling you.
There was long silence between the two as Leia remembered the dream again.
" He seemed so real."
Who?
"That man. He... He was like all of us, With hope... Fear."
Her voice became a whisper as she continued,
"Too many fears."
Leia shook her head almost violently and Lukes voice became even more understanding,
Father.
Leias head flung upwards from the casings of her arms,
"No! Not father! Vader... Vader... Can you believe it?! Once a man... A real man, Luke."
Luke wasn't there, not the representation of his spirit... Only his voice,
Leia, give him a chance.
"I can't..."
Leia began to weep now against the balcony and her lips quievered into an uncontrollable pout.
"He killed you, Luke. He killed all of them, he's killed... So many."
You can redeem him, I know it! You can bring him back into the light. He's begun to doubt the darkness... Because of you! Because of us.
"He'd never change..."
"He could— he would. He's done it before."